Fish lure



March 13, 1951 G, F, FAwcE-r'r 2,5%782 FISH LURE Filed Aug. 30, 1947 1N vx-:NTo'R zum aww ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 13, 195i UNITED -r siATEs ,IPA-TENT OFFICE George r. Fawcett-Euclid, ohio, assigner to The Carpenter Manufacturing Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 30, 1947, serial No. 771,407

This invention relates to artiiicial'fish lures, especially to artificial lures of the type wherein the fish hooks lare adapted to be retained in an inoperative position until 4the instant that a sh strikes the lure. l

Heretofore, various types. of weedless sh lures have been provided wherein the hooks are placed oy retained in aninoperative position until the bait is to be used, or special guards may be provided to prevent weeds from engaging with the sli hooks. Other devices also have been provided for rendering fish hooks on artificial lures safe to handle when the iish lure is beingstored, or attached to a line. All of Asuch means known to me have been relatively unsuccessful because the guards for the fish hooks might themselves be weed catching or hooking devices, the means for rendering the iish hooks active might not operate at the proper time, or else 'might "operate prematurely, the fish hook safety device might interfere with the operation of the iish lure, or it might be objectionable for various other reasons.

rhe general object of the present invention is to provide a novel, attractive sh lure which is characterized by a positive locking of the fish s claims'.- (ol. "4a-36) hooks in inoperative position, which locking is adapted to be automatically released. when a fish strikes at, or hits the fish lure.

A further object of .the invention is to provide an inexpensive, easilyv produced, and assembled iish lure of the weedless variety, which lure has desirable nsh catchingproperties.

A further object of the invention isfto provide aA sh lure which can be easily carried or stored without danger of hooking or snagging the fish hook barbs on any object. A

vThe foregoing and otherobjects andadvantages ofthe invention will be made apparent as thespecication proceeds. I .Attention now is directed to the accompanying drawings, wherein: l

A Fig. 1 is anelevation of a shlure embodying the principles of my invention;

A Fig, 2 is a longitudinal-sectionof the sh lure with the hooks in inoperative position;

Y Eig. 3 is a longitudinalfsection-of the iish lure with the iish hooks` started to be released; and Fig; 4 is an elevation o f the hook mounting piston. Y 5., Referring specically to the details of the device shown in the drawings, a fish lure indicated generally by the numeral Il is provided and it includes or has a hollow cover member II that is provided .with apair of diametrically Opposed slots I2, a..bore.l3, anda `counterbore I4. The

open end of the cover member I I is closed by an endcap,Y or sleeve'l5 which usually engages the" cover `member by a threaded connection so as to provide a tubular portion in the fish lure. A sleeve I3 is received in the bore I3 and is provided with means, such as a shoulder or flange I'I formedj'on its periphery, which iiange Il is admitted into the counterbore I4 but cannot move into the bore section I3 whereby such flange limits relative axial inward movement of the sleeve" i@ with relation to the cover. To retain, resiliently, the sleeve I6 in its innermost position, resilient means such as a coil spring I8 is positioned between the end sleeve I5 and the flange II to urge such sleeve I6 to seat normally against the end ofthecounterbore I4, as shown in Fig. 2.

Another of the features of the invention is that a iisli hook mounting device, such as a plunger, orpiston `I!i, is received in the bore of the sleeve l5 for axialvmovement therein. The piston I9 ispositioned in the l-ure I for axial movement by engagement with al hole 2l in the enclosed end, of the cover I I and with a plunger or piston guide 22 in the sleeve I6.` This piston IS pivotally mounts two hooks 23, one on each side of itself by means oi a pin 24. That is, hooks 23 are positioned in cut-out sections 25' of the piston, as best shown in Fig. 4 so that they lie closely against such piston and the ends of such cut-out sections 25 are outwardly inclined as shown in Fig. 2 with relation to the adjacent hook so that as the piston I9 ismoved toward the rear of the lish lure, thefree ends of thesh hooks are expelled A -froin the iish4 lure by the curved ends of the hooks bearing on the ends of the slots I2.

iThe piston guide 22 may have a small bore that issnugly received on the piston I9 to aid in positioning the hooks 23 in retracted position.

-l-A salient feature of the invention is that positive means are provided for locking the piston I9 in the fish lure I0 so thatv the hooks 23 are in To this end, headed apertures 32 formed in diametrically opposed portions of the sleeve IS with the heads of thev locking pins 3I being received in recesses ISI formed in the periphery of this sleeve, as shown in Fig. 2. The locking pins 3l are of such length that the curved, inner ends thereon extend into the bore of the sleeve I6 and engage with the head 25 of the piston I9 to prevent its movement`Y thereby when the pins are in their locking position. However,- -when the sleeve I6 is moved axially outwardly of the cover II, then the locking pins 3| can be forced out into the counterbore I4 at which time the piston head 25 can move by the inner ends of the locking pins. A resilient coil spring, or other equivalent member 33 is provided in the iish lure and it is positioned between the piston head 25 and a ange or shoulder 34 formed on the piston guide 22 whereby such spring normally urges the piston i9 and the hooks carried thereby to their outermost positions. The spring 33 is strong enough to force the piston I9 past the locking pins 3I by movingthem radially out.-

wardly when the sleeve IB is moved in the cover II to place the pins 3| in the counterbore I4 and free for radially outward movement. By retaining the relative light weight springv I3l compressed, one can reset the lure by forcing the piston I9 and its associated means inwardly of the fish lure so as to snap the head 25 by the locking pins 3 I should be released for relative movement and spring i8 will force the sleeve IB inwardly of the sh lure to the position shown in Fig. 2, meanwhile the piston should be retained pushed into the lure by pressure on the outer endv of the piston and such` pressure can be released as soon as the sleeve i6 and cover member I I are positioned as in Fig. 2.

In operation, it will be seen that the fish lure is drawn through the water by a slight force exerted on the piston guide 22, which action or force is not suicient to compress the spring- I8. However, when a fish or other animal would strike at or -bite on the fish lure I0, its movement willV be retarded and the pulling action exerted on the guide 22 will slide the sleeve I5 and associated means outwardly of the fish lure whereby the locking pins 3l will be moved into association with the counterbore I4. At that time, the force exerted on the pins 3l bythe piston head 25 will force such locking pins radially outwardly of the fish l-ure whereby spring 33 will snap the piston I9 and hooks 23 to their outermost positions so that any sh bitingy the fish lure will be caught on such hooks.

It will be seen that the fish lure is so constructed and arranged that relative light retarding action on the iish lure will compress the spring I8 so as to release the locking pins 3l and permit the relatively heavy spring 33 to snapy the fish lure into its operative position. Fig. 3A shows the hooks 23 in an operative position but the spring 33 may force the piston I9 farthery towards the closed end oi the cover II and such action will only force the hooks farther-out of the lure.

It will be noted that a plurality of annular grooves 50 are formed in theouter surface of the cover II as they disguise the slots I2 and aidin giving the lure anv attractive movement through the water. The. lure may,Y of course, be formed from any suitable material and I have found various plastics to be very satisfactory for this use. As the hooks 23 are hiddenas the l-ure is drawn through the water by a line attached to the guide 22,` iish are not as wary of the lure asA they are of artificial lures in general.

In accordance with the patent statutes; one complete embodiment of the invention has been described herein in detail. However, it will be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to that example given herein, but that modilication may be resortedv to within the scope oi the appended' claims.

What is claimed is:

. 1. A i'ish lure comprising-a hollow cover member havinga bore and a counterbore, a sleeve having a piston guide provided with a shoulder The sleeve I6 and cover member I. I then positioned in said bore and being received in said cover member for relative axial movement, compression resilient means for normally resisting movement of said sleeve and cover member but for permitting relative axial movement therebetween, a piston member received in said sleeve for axial movement, one endY of said piston member being mounted in and positioned by said cover member, a hook pivotally carried by said piston member, said cover member having a slot therein, said hook being received substantially within the sl'otin said cover member when said piston member and said cover member are in their normal relation, means forv engaging said sleeve with a sh lne resilientA means between the shoulder of said piston guide and said piston member for movingy sai'd pistonY member axially of said sleeve andi cover member so as to position said hook externally of said cover member, and lock pins engaged with said sleeve and normally being positi'oned in the bore of said cover member, said lock pins normal-ly extending into the bore of said sleeve for preventing axial movement of said piston member by said second-named resilient means until said first-named resilient means are appreciably compressed, said piston member beingI adapted to push said lock pins out of lock position when said sleeve is moved with relation to said cover member so as to position said lock pins in the counter-bore of said cover member.

2. A fish lure' comprising a hollow cover member having a bore a sleeve having a piston guide provided with a shoulder positioned in said bore and being, received in said cover member for relative. axial movement, compression resilient means for normally resisting movement of' said sleeve andcover member but. for permitting relative axial movement therebetween, a piston member received in said.y sleeve for axial movement, hooks pivotally carried by said piston member, said cover member having slots therein, said hooks being received substantially within the slots in said` cover member when said piston member andA said cover member are in their normal relation means for engaging saidv sleeve with aV sh line, resilient means: between the shoulder of said piston guideand said piston member or moving said piston. member axially of said sleeve and cover member so as to position said hooks externally of said cover member, and lock pins engaged with said sleeve' and. normally extending into its bore for* preventing movement of. said piston member by'- said-1 second-named resilient means until said first-named" resilient means are appreciably compressedV by' relative movement of said cover member andi sleeve at" which timel said piston member is adapted to push said lock pins out of lock position.

3. A- sh lure comprising-- a closed end tubular cover member having a longitudinally extending slot formed therein', a sleeve received in said cover member for relative axial movement, com-pression resilient means for normally resisting movement of said sleeve and cover-member but` for permitting relative axial movement therebetween, a piston member positioned in said sleeve and said cover member for axial movement, a hook carried by said piston member and adapted to be positioned thereby substantially within. the slot in said; cover member, resilient means: for moving said piston member so as to force said hook externallyof said' cover member, and ra.- dially movableV lock meansior preventing movement of said piston member byy said second- GEORGE F. FAWCETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 700,412 Fischer May 20, 1902 1,609,160 Deckman Nov. 30, 1926 2,301,764 Wainwright Nov. 10, 1942 

